No Female Protagonists

The studio executive we went to see was a very nice, very kind, very intelligent young woman. I pitched to her not one movie but three, I pitched to her for over an hour, laying out a tapestry, a world of intrigue, action, spectacle and personal development.

The studio exec was fascinated and very impressed, and then, at the end of the pitch, said “That’s really great, Todd, you really nailed it, it’s perfect. I’m just wondering — is there some way to make the protagonist a boy?”

I didn’t enjoy Hunger Games—I thought it was a rather shallow film with limited character development—but I do hope its success shows that there’s no reason women can’t play the lead in large science-fiction or action movies.